Cytoplasmic crystalline inclusions are found in some larval haemocytes of Drosophila melanogaster. Blackening can be experimentally induced in these cells, and previously it was suggested that either the substrate or enzyme for the tyrosine-tyrosinase system leading to melanin production in Drosophila larvae is found in these inclusions in the crystal cells. The present report is an attempt to ...

BACKGROUND After decades during which endosymbionts were considered as silent in their hosts, in particular concerning the immune system, recent studies have revealed the contrary. In the present paper, we addressed the effect of Wolbachia, the most prevalent endosymbiont in arthropods, on host immunocompetence. To this end, we chose the A. vulgare-Wolbachia symbiosis as a model system because ...

Peroxinectin, a cell-adhesive peroxidase (homologous to human myeloperoxidase), from the crayfish Pacifastacus leniusculus, was shown by immuno-fluorescence to bind to the surface of crayfish blood cells (haemocytes). In order to identify a cell surface receptor for peroxinectin, labelled peroxinectin was incubated with a blot of haemocyte membrane proteins. It was found to specifically bind tw...

Prophenoloxidase (proPO) is a melanin-synthesising enzyme that plays important roles in immune responses by crustaceans. Previously, we cloned and characterized proPO-I from white shrimp, Litopenaeus vannamei. In the present study, a novel prophenoloxidase-II (proPO-II) cDNA was also cloned from haemocytes of L. vannamei using oligonucleotide primers and reverse-transcriptase polymerase chain r...

BACKGROUND Nitric oxide synthase (NOS) is responsible for synthesizing nitric oxide (NO) from L-arginine, and involved in multiple physiological functions. However, its immunological role in mollusc was seldom reported. METHODOLOGY In the present study, an NOS (CfNOS) gene was identified from the scallop Chlamys farreri encoding a polypeptide of 1486 amino acids. Its amino acid sequence share...

Cephalopods have the most advanced circulatory and nervous system among the mollusks. Recently, they have been included in the European directive which state that suffering and pain should be minimized in cephalopods used in experimentation. The knowledge about cephalopod welfare is still limited and several gaps are yet to be filled, especially in reference to pathogens, pathologies and immune...

Allograft inflammatory factor-1 (AIF-1) is a 17 kDa interferon-γ-inducible Ca(2+)-binding EF-hand protein that plays a significant role not only in different host responses to inflammatory stimuli, but in the whole host immune defense reaction. In the present study, the full-length cDNA of AIF-1 was identified from manila clam Venerupis philippinarum (denoted as VpAIF-1) by cDNA library and RAC...